Ornellaia 2010 “La Celebrazione”

Ornellaia has commissioned Michelangelo Pistoletto, one of Italy’s most important and influential artists, to interpret ‘La Celebrazione’ for Vendemmia d’Artista Ornellaia 2010. The artist has created labels for an extremely limited and individually-signed and numbered series of large-size bottles: 100 Double Magnums (3 litre), 10 Imperials (6 litre) and a unique Salmanzar bottle (9 litre). Some of these exquisite bottles will be auctioned by Sotheby’s during a charity event in London to present the new vintage.

In the 3 and 9 litre bottles, the spiral creates a sense of infinity and higher aspiration, a more intimate and spiritual expression of the artist.The 6 litre bottle labels, each unique, represent a different composition of a 10 fragment puzzle with a missing element. For the artist, the mirror, in its infinite realities, reflects both the spectator and the surrounding environment, introducing into the artwork a temporal dimension.

The Artist Michelangelo Pistoletto

Michelangelo Pistoletto, born in Biella in 1933, is internationally recognized as one of the most important and influential artists of the world’s artistic community. Since the sixties, Pistoletto achieved international acclaim for his performances, sculptures and installations, in particular for his mirror paintings that include the presence of the viewer in the work. His introduction, in this body of work, of the dimensions of time and space, formed the basis of his subsequent artistic production and theory. Among the most significant protagonists of the Arte Povera movement, Pistoletto pursues from the very beginning a rigorous inquiry about the self portrait, representation and reality. Charismatic personality and promoter of cultural movements, he founded in the nineties Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto in Biella and the University of Ideas. This project aimed to put art at the centre of our intellectual discourse, with the goal of pursuing a comprehensive transformation of civil society.

Special Labels

Michelangelo Pistoletto’s creation works around the fundamental themes of his art and explorations: the mirror. The spiral that entwines itself around the Double Magnum bottle; the sculpted, three-dimensional spiral on the one-of-a-kind Salmanazar; and the play of the varying forms of the Imperial bottle labels are all made of a special reflective material that is intimately connected with the motifs that the artist has been developing since the early 1960s. On the 3- and 9-litre bottles, the spiral creates a sense of infinity and higher aspiration, with the artist ultimately achieving a more intimate and spiritual expression. The 6-litre bottle labels, are unique and represent a different composition of a 10-piece puzzle, each one with a different missing element of the puzzle. For the artist, the mirror, in its infinite realities, reflects both the spectator and the surrounding environment, introducing into the artwork a temporal dimension.

Event

A live, on-line charity auction of rare Ornellaia bottles conducted by Sotheby’s London to the benefit the “Royal Opera House Foundation” in London.
Royal Opera House
London
16 May 2013